Scandals shake public's trust in local government

Two blocks from an Oxnard City Hall targeted in an investigation on possible misuse of public funds, 52-year-old Rudy Perez laughed at the question, eyes widening, as if he were being asked if pigs fly.

Trust government?

"Hell, no. Would you trust them?" he said, voice rising. "They're the biggest crooks in the world. You know that."

Views of local government have been strained by a scandal in Bell, where three city administrators made combined salaries of $1.6 million, and reports that a former Vernon administrator who now works as a legal consultant for that city made more than $1 million annually.

In Oxnard, an ongoing investigation is focusing not on salaries, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, but on the possible misappropriation of money, conflicts of interest and city construction contracts.

The office hasn't filed any charges or revealed the results of its searches of City Hall and the homes of some city leaders. But the investigation and the attention it is generating mean trust in City Hall is now a matter of debate in downtown Oxnard.

At a booth in BG's Coffee Shop and Deli on Thursday, 79-year-old Bill Parry answered the question with the same conviction as Perez.

"I certainly do, because I know them," he said of trust in elected leaders, rattling off a list of local officials. "I know them personally."

That familiarity is huge, said Terry Cooper, a professor of administration at USC, citing polls that suggest people trust local government more than state and federal government.

But when scandal or even the appearance of wrongdoing emerges in city or county government, trust may tumble even quicker than after investigations or allegations in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.

"Suddenly, the people they trust the most become the people they trust the least," Cooper said, again blaming the trend on familiarity. "The people who are closest to me, I can see what they're doing."

Outside a post office on Oxnard's A Street, Tom Sanders answered the trust question by ripping into Sacramento, specifically state government and "all the spending they do." Ask about Oxnard, his home since 1986, and his tone changes immediately. He noted the investigation hasn't produced any public evidence of wrongdoing. Until that happens, he won't give up his trust.

"Oxnard's fine, even now," he said.

Jose Aranda walked out of Oxnard City Hall, where he's trying to get building permits for a construction project involving his tax service business. He never entirely trusts government.

"You think there's something wrong with it and then you see an investigation," he said, interpreting it as proof that something must be wrong.

The cynicism is the norm for Americans, experts say. Cooper said lack of trust became a nationwide trend in the mid-1960s.

Michael Shires, a public policy professor at Pepperine University in Malibu, pointed at the more recent past.

"There is a cynicism probably going back to Watergate in all of us that just presumes there's corruption going on somewhere," Shires said, noting allegations cause suspicions to flare. "There's distrust in our society in general, and every once in a while we find validation of that distrust."

Hard evidence of wrongdoing obviously triggers the most doubts about government and politicians. But even the appearance of problems stokes suspicions, Shire said. And people who read about concerns in Bell or Oxnard often make assumptions about their own city.

"I think every resident in Ventura County is now looking at their local government and saying, ‘Can I really trust them?' " he said.

The Bell scandal has already seeded reform efforts. A state Assembly committee approved a bill requiring elected officials and lead government administrators to report their pay and benefits. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors debated and then rejected Supervisor Peter Foy's proposal for a ballot measure requiring many county pension hikes to be put before voters.

Simi Valley is one of several cities that have posted links on their websites allowing people to see salaries of top officials — in Simi's case, $14,938 for City Council members and $231,355 for City Manager Mike Sedell.

The information had been online, Sedell said, but the Bell scandal persuaded the city to make it easier to access.

Sedell said governments are obligated to be as transparent as possible. But he also complains about people who react to a scandal in one city by labeling all politicians as crooks.

"I personally believe there is the same sampling of people in government as in general society," he said.

In Oxnard, people have read about investigators shutting down City Hall to confiscate records one Friday and searching the homes of several people on another day, including current city administrators, a council member and former public works employees. The news obviously shakes people's perceptions of government, said Oxnard Mayor Tom Holden, adding he doesn't think trust has fallen to crisis levels.

City leaders have to take steps to rebuild confidence in government, but there's no way to map that strategy until the investigation is completed and any evidence is presented to the public, Holden said

"We'll look at whatever issues (emerge) and we'll deal with those," he said.

Standing outside City Hall on Thursday, Miguel Gutierrez can't help but be bothered by it all. The forklift technician is 58 and has lived in Oxnard all of those years. He wants to trust government because that makes him feel safer. The investigation hasn't shattered his faith in his city, but it has fueled doubt.

"All of a sudden it's in your hometown," he said. "It does make you question and not trust."